Compressed Air Best Practices - November 2008 - (Page 35) Compressed Air Industry STEEL & METALS | 11–12/08 | Tom Hamway The keynote speaker was Tom Hamway. His speech focused on sales management techniques. With material drawn from his 20+ years of consulting and of owning and operating several different types of businesses, I found his comments to be very insightful and useful. Do we allow our Top 20% of customers the majority of our time? Or do we allow our Bottom 20% of our customers too much time? Do we allow unprofitable customers to chew up our resources with rationalizations? Do we provide our sales forces (who are by nature independent characters) with the proper amounts and levels of coaching? Do we segment our service and sales forces into “A,” “B” and “C” players and provide each group with the right support? Do we promote our “A” players into sales management roles where they are no longer effective? Do we coach by asking questions or do we do all the talking? I found myself thinking back and thinking of things I could have done differently as a result of this very insightful lecture. The Location I’d be remiss if I didn’t give mention to the extraordinary location chosen for the event. The Couer D’Alene Resort boasts a world-class golf course with a floating 14th green on Lake Couer D’Alene. All the golfers raved about the golf course and the complimentary post-round massage. For the non-golfers, easy hikes right off the property along the lake were a fantastic experience. The final distributor/vendor dinner was held on a boat cruise featuring every imaginable way to eat an Idaho potato. Only the positive and productive atmosphere at the Conference matched the location. Joe Fresch, Rick Bell and Jim Donohue from Pneumatech. www.airbestpractices.com 35 http://www.airbestpractices.com
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